Many of the medical care products, protective wear garments, personal care products, and veterinary products, and in use today are available as disposable products. By disposable, it is meant that the product is used only a few times, or even only once, before being discarded. Examples of such products include, but are not limited to, medical and health care products such as surgical drapes, gowns and bandages, protective workwear garments such as coveralls and lab coats, and infant, child and adult personal care absorbent products such as diapers, training pants, incontinence garments and pads, sanitary napkins, wipes and the like. Despite the disposability of these products, comfort is an important feature for these products to provide.
Fibrous nonwoven webs formed by extrusion processes such as spunbonding and meltblowing, and by mechanical dry-forming process such as air-laying and carding, used in combination with thermoplastic film or microfiber layers, may be utilized as components of these disposable products since their manufacture is often inexpensive relative to the cost of woven or knitted components. A layer of film or microfibers may be used to impart liquid barrier properties, and an elastic layer (elastic film or elastic microfibers, for example) may be used to impart additional properties of stretch and recovery. However, films in general and elastic layers in particular, whether a film sheet layer or a microfiber layer, often have unpleasant tactile aesthetic properties, such as feeling rubbery or tacky to the touch, making them unpleasant and uncomfortable against the wearer's skin. Fibrous nonwoven webs, on the other hand, have better tactile, comfort and aesthetic properties.
The tactile aesthetic properties of elastic films can be improved by forming a laminate of an elastic film with one or more non-elastic materials, such as fibrous nonwoven webs, on the outer surface of the elastic material. However, fibrous nonwoven webs formed from non-elastic polymers such as, for example, polyolefins are generally considered non-elastic and may have poor extensibility, and when non-elastic nonwoven webs are laminated to elastic materials the resulting laminate may also be restricted in its elastic properties. Therefore, laminates of elastic materials with nonwoven webs have been developed wherein the nonwoven webs are made extensible by processes such as necking or gathering.
Materials that provide improved comfort at a price attractive for single use products remain a sought-after goal. In particular, there remains a need for cushioned films, cushioned film nonwoven laminate materials and cost-effective and efficient processes of making such materials.